‘Cracker’ Johnson Ruled His Side Of West Palm In Early 20th Century

Q: Who was Cracker Johnson?
A: In another time, Cracker Johnson might have been one of Palm Beach County’s greatest celebrities. But he lived, and died, in a more repressive time when blacks made the papers only when they were arrested or murdered.
James Jerome Johnson, 1877-1946, was the king of segregated black West Palm Beach.
The blue-eyed Johnson earned his nickname because he could pass as white. He came through West Palm Beach in 1900 and bought property: a rooming house on Banyan Street, a movie theater – the Dixie, later called the Strand, on Rosemary and Third Street – and a nightclub called the Florida Bar, with waiters in tuxedos. He helped start a private club for “colored gentlemen.” Blacks couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks, so they borrowed from Johnson.
He also is believed to have smuggled liquor during Prohibition, and he ran the bolita numbers game, which put him in good company among white movers and shakers. Johnson, who couldn’t read or write except to sign his name, was raking in up to $10,000 a week by the 1940s.
But he finally made the papers on July 2, 1946. He saw a friend being attacked behind his bar. He rushed to help and was mortally wounded in a gunfight. One of the two attackers, who were brothers, was killed, and the other was later captured. The death prompted a brief news story.
Cracker Johnson’s funeral was standing room only. Hundreds of people, both black and white, came to bury a king.
Historical Society of Palm Beach County: 832-4164

Tags: African Americans, black icons, Cracker Johnson, notorious crimes